Note 12 — Chapter II · THE BROOM-TREE

There is a reference to an old poem which says: ‘I know that to-night my lover will come to me. The spider’s antics prove it clearly’ Omens were drawn from the behaviour of spiders. There is also a pun on hiru ‘day’ and hiru ‘garlic,’ so that an ordinary person would require a few moments’ reflection before understanding the poem.